Suncor fined $850,000 for environmental violations

Suncor has been fined a combined $850,000 in two separate environmental cases, the Alberta government announced Thursday.

Suncor was fined $675,000 for failing to install pollution control equipment at its Firebag facility near Fort McMurray and failing to tell Alberta Environment about it.

The oilsands giant was also fined $175,000 in connection with the dumping of undertreated wastewater from a company-owned work camp near Fort McMurray into the Athabasca River.

Suncor was found to have improperly supervised the camp operator at the Millennium Lodge facility in a case that wasn't made public until early March — even though the Alberta government had originally laid dozens of charges against Suncor and two of its contractors nearly a year earlier.

The charges against Suncor and a contractor, Compass Group, were reduced to one count each.

Compass Group was fined $225,000 in the same case for failing to report violations by R & D McCabe, the company it contracted to run the site.

In early March, R & D McCabe and owner Rodney McCabe pleaded guilty to six charges, including giving false or misleading information, failing to report and exceeding approved limits. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 22.

The court ordered a "creative sentencing condition" in both cases, Alberta Environment said.

In the Millennium work camp case, Suncor and Compass Group will contribute $300,000 of the fine towards the Alberta Waste and Waste Water Operators Association.

Of the $675,000 Suncor will pay for the Firebag violation, $315,000 will go to a regulatory compliance project at the University of Calgary, which "will examine organizational failures that resulted in these offences," the government release said.

Keyano College in Fort McMurray will get $75,000 to establish a scholarship for young people who want to study environmental and conservation science.